A New Jersey school district that's already called seven snow days this season decided to open on Presidents Day to make up the state-required number of academic instruction days.
"It was a little bummer," said Roxbury High School senior Dillon Artgliere, who had been planning for a three-day weekend. "It 's always nice to have a day off."
The district had to get creative trying to make up for seven snow days this winter and decided to open on Presidents Day in lieu of subtracting a second day from spring break.
"It's a little inconvenient but we try to give parents a heads-up so they could adjust their calendar," said Ameerah Palacios, community relations coordinator. "Some go on vacation, so we have to adjust for that."
Officials say there was a 96 percent attendance rate district-wide Monday, about the same as any other day.
Because New Jersey requires 180 days of instruction, many school districts have been scrambling to adjust their calendars. One Bergen County school district conducted virtual school on a recent snow day in the hope it would count as an actual school day. Others are throwing around the idea of Saturday classes; students at Roxbury say they'd prefer to avoid that and would rather forego the three-day weekend.
"I'd rather come to school on a Monday than a Saturday." said Dillon.
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"Definitely come in today rather than over spring break," said senior Alex Watson.
Despite the inconvenience and relentless snow, the Roxbury superintendent is taking it all in stride and even made a musical YouTube video last week to announce school closures.
